Railroad switch throwing mechanism



S. R. THORNTON RAILROAD SWITCH THHOWING MECHANISM Jam fi, 1970 2 Sheet-Sheet 1 1d Oct. 15, 196'? INVENTCR GTUART F\.TH0RNT0N ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5. R. THORNTON INVENTOR ATTORNEY ST ARTR THORNT N RAILROAD SWITCH THROW ING MECHANISM Jan. 6, 1970 "'led Oct. 15, 1967 United States Patent 3,488,490 RAILROAD SWITCH THROWING MECHANISM Stuart R. Thornton, 3700 26th St., San Francisco, Calif. 94110 Filed Oct. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 675,190 Int. Cl. E01b 7/04, 7/06 U.S. Cl. 246415 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A railroad switch throwing mechanism for moving a pair of switch points between their two extremities of movement and for locking the switch points in either of said positions. A manually actuated lever, which is pivotally mounted to swing in a vertical plane, and a connecting rod, having one end pivotally connected to the bridle bar of the switch points and an opposite end pivotally connected to the lever at a point spaced from the lever point, constitutes the switch throwing mechanism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a switch throwing mechanism of extremely simple construction and which will lock the switch points in either extremity of their movement.

Another object of the invention is to provide a switch throwing mechanism wherein a connecting rod connects an actuating lever of the mechanism to the bridle bar of the switch points and has an end, which is connected to the lever, arranged to swing through an arc, during swinging movement of the lever between its two extremities of movement, and in either of which positions the connecting rod assumes a position to lock the bridle bar BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a top plan view showing the switch throwing mechanism connected to a railroad switch;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 2--2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of one part of the invention; and

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, partly in side elevation, illustrating details of the invention.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more specifically to the drawings, the switch throwing mechanism in its entirety and comprising the invention is designated generally 7 and is shown in FIGURE 1 in association with main line rails 8 and 9 and siding rails 10 and 11. The rails 9 and 10 have switch points 12 and 13, respectively, which are pivotally connected by fastenings 14 to a bridle bar 15 which extends under said switch points and under the rails 8 and 11, as best seen in FIGURE 3.

The mechanism 7 includes a channel-shaped member 16 and portions of which rest upon ties 17 and have laterally projecting apertured ears 18 through which extend fastenings 19 which are anchored in the ties 17, for securing the channel member 16 immovably thereto and in a position substantially parallel to and laterally offset from the rail 8. The channel member 16 includes a bottom 20, an outer side wall 21 and an inner side wall 22 which combine to form a channel 23 which extends from end-to-end through the member 16.

The walls 21 and 22 have aligned openings 24 (FIG URE 4) to receive the shank of a bolt 25 which extends through an opening 26 located adjacent to end 27 of a lever 28, which end is disposed in the channel 23. The inner wall 22 has notches 29 disposed] on opposite sides of and equally spaced from the opening 24 thereof through either of which may project the shank 30 of a ball or sphere 31 forming a part of a ball and socket joint 32. The shank 30 extends through the lever 28 at a point spaced from its pivot 25 and a nut 33 :lhreadably engages the free end of the shank 30. The wall 21 has inwardly opening recesses 34 for accommodating the nut 33, and the end of the shank which said nut engages in either the full or dotted line position of the lever 28, as seen in FIGURE 1. Said recesses 24 align with the notches 29. A nut 35 engages the threaded end of the headed bolt 25 for securing the bolt to the channel member 16.

The ball and socket joint 32 connects the lever 28 to one end of a connecting rod 36, which end has a socket 37, forming a part of the joint 32, to receive the ball 31 and which includes a removable ring member 38, as best seen in FIGURE 5, which is threadably attached to the socket for confining the ball 31 therein.

As best seen in FIGURE 3, the end of the bridle bar 15 located nearest the channel member 16, has an upturned terminal portion 39 from which projects a ball 40, forming a part of a second ball and socket joint 41, by which the other end of the connecting rod 36 is connected to the bridle bar 15. The ball and socket joint 41 includes a socket 37' formed on the other end of the connecting rod 36 and having a detachable retaining ring 38 which parts 37' and 38 correspond with the parts 37 and 38, respectively.

The lever 28 is of a length such that a handle 42, which is formed on the other free end thereof, will be disposed substantially beyond an adjacent end of the channel member 16 when the lever 28 is in a horizontal position, resting on the channel bottom 20, as illustrated in full and dotted lines in FIGURES 1 and 2.

With the parts in their full line positions of FIGURES 1 and 2 and as seen in FIGURE 3, the connecting rod 36 is disposed at an oblique angle to the bridle bar 15 but in a horizontal plane parallel to the plane of said bridle bar 15 to prevent the bridle bar from moving from right to left of FIGURE 3 and to thus retain the switch point 13 in engagement with the rail Sand the switch point 12 out of engagement with the rail 11. By swinging the lever 28 about its pivot 25 in a vertical plane through an arc of as indicated by the broken arrow-tipped line 43 in FIGURE 2, said lever .will be moved from its full line to its dotted line position of FIGURES 1 and 2. During this movement, the ball and socket joint 32 and the end of the connecting rod 36, forming a part thereof, will swing with the lever 28 through an are around the pivot 25 from the full line to the dotted line position of the shank 30 in FIGURE 2. During this movement the connecting rod 36 will exert a thrust against the ball 40 to move the bridle bar 15 from right to left of FIGURE 3 for moving the switch points 12 and 13 from their full line to their dotted line position of FIGURE 1, with the switch point 12 abutting the rail 11 and the switch point 13 spaced from the rail 8. In its dotted line position the connecting rod 36 is in a straight line position with respect to the bridle bar 15 and with its axis in alignment with the center of the ball 30 which is secured to said bridle bar, for effectively holding the switch points and bridle bar locked in their dotted line positions of FIGURE 1.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A railroad switch throwing mechanism comprising a lever, means pivotally mounting the lever for swinging movement about a horizontal axis to one side of and in a plane substantially parallel to a rail of a railroad switch, a rigid connecting rod, means adapted to pivotally connect one end of said connecting rod to an end of a bridle bar of a pair of switch points, and means pivotally connecting the other end of the connecting rod to said lever for swinging movement of said last mentioned connecting rod end with the lever about the axis of the lever pivot and through an arc of approximately 180, for moving the connecting rod between a position at an oblique angle to the bridle bar and a position substantially in alignment with the bridle bar for moving the bridle bar and switch points from one extremity to the other extremity of movement thereof.

2. A railroad switch throwing mechanism as in claim 1, said connecting rod being disposed with its axis in substantially a horizontal plane parallel to the plane of the bridle bar and the plane of the axis of the lever in either of said positions of the connecting rod for locking the bridle bar and switch points in one of the other extremities of the movement thereof.

3. A railroad switch throwing mechanism as in claim 1, said first mentioned means including an upwardly opening fixedly mounted channel member in which a portion of the lever is disposed and having a pivot element extending transversely therethrough and through an end of the lever.

4. A railroad switch throwing mechanism as in claim 1, said second mentioned means and said last mentioned means each comprising a ball and socket joint.

5. A railroad switch throwing mechanism as in claim 3, said second and last mentioned means each comprising a ball and socket joint, said channel member including an inner wall provided with spaced notches disposed one on either side of the pivot element, and the'ball and socket joint of said last mentioned means including a shank extending from the ball thereof transversely through the lever and positioned relative to the pivot element to be received in either of said notches.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,273,134 7/1918 Bender 246-411 1,348,848 8/1920 Butler 246-410 2,009,269 7/1935 Lundy 246452 DRAYTON E. HOFFMAN, Primary Examiner RICHARD A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner 

